Impossible
by dreamscholar
Summary: Katara thought it owuld be impossible for her to love Zuko. Zuko thought the same thing about Katara. The two will soon find out that nothing is impossible anymore. a zutara story, obviously.
1. Chapter 1

I did have this story up as something else, but it was highly flawed so I decided to fix it then continue on with the story. Please review to tell me if you liked it or not, or give me suggestions for things I could do better. Also, I'm not really sure about the title and would like suggestions for a new one, so really anything you say will be taken into consideration.

All standard disclaimers apply.

**Katara's POV**

"Well we would have enough food if _someone_ hadn't eaten it all on our way here!" Katara exclaimed with a pointed look at her brother who was trying- and failing- to look innocent.

"I'm a growing boy Katara! I need to eat a lot," Sokka said in his defense.

"Aang's a growing boy too, yet you don't see him eating every ten minutes!"

"Yeah, well, Aang and I are different!" Sokka's poor explanation was useless though because Katara had already stormed off in search of food.

"Wow, Sugarqueen sure is angry," Toph said, "It'd be best to leave her alone for a while," she added as Aang got up to follow after Katara.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Want to come look for firewood with me?" Aang asked.

"Sure. And I'm always right," she replied, getting up and following Aang into the woods.

Meanwhile, Katara had come across the most beautiful pond she had ever seen. She dipped her fingers in the water and sighed. The water was cool and felt good in the heat of the summer twilight. She hurriedly took off her outer dress and stood in her under wrappings that she preferred to practice in.

She stepped into the water and drew it around her in the octopus formation. From there, she moved smoothly into the move she had seen Aang and Master Pakku perform at the North Pole. She had been having trouble mastering it, but she had a good feeling right now- she was totally in sync with her element. She swirled the water around the lower half of her body and rose out of the water. A smile of satisfaction showed on her face as she held the position.

She sensed someone in the bushes behind her so she dropped quickly back into her octopus position and shot one of the "tentacles" back to where they were hiding. Whoever it was dodged and sent a branch flying out of the bushes toward her. She sliced it neatly in half using her water, realizing too late that it was only a distraction. She felt a sharp pain in her thigh before the darkness consumed her.

**Zuko's POV**

Zuko sat in the bushes thinking about his next move. He had finally managed to slip off his ship unnoticed for some much-needed "quiet time". Even when he was alone on his ship it was never quiet, what with all the banging of the pipes and the ocean outside. Most of the time it was okay, but lately Zuko had had the feeling of the walls closing in on him and knew it was time to get out for a bit. He got up and started wandering around in the woods. After he had been walking for maybe ten minutes, he heard someone sigh off to his right. He peered through the bushes to find the source of the sigh….

Whatever he had been expecting to see, he didn't see it. Instead he found a waterbender girl stepping into a small pond. A half-naked waterbender girl he noted with some embarrassment. As he watched her he realized the girl before him was the one that traveled with the Avatar. A plan sprung into his mind, and he hurried to put it into action. He wasn't blind, he had seen the way the young Avatar had looked at this girl. If he captured her then the Avatar was sure to come and rescue her.

Zuko took a poisoned dart he had gotten in the last village out of his pocket. Now he was really thankful he had gotten this dart. Even though it felt like cheating, he knew there was no way he could take out a master waterbender on a night with a nearly full moon in the sky. He had witnessed the power the moon gave waterbenders when he had gone to the North Pole. The dart was coated with a powerful poison that rendered people unconscious for a good twelve hours.

Looking back out at the pond, Zuko saw the girl drop out of the complicated looking form she was practicing and move into a position that made her look like an octopus. She shot one of the tentacles of water right at him, so he dodged instinctively and picked up the first thing his hand touched- a stick lying on the ground. He threw the stick at her as a distraction, and then shot his dart aiming for her leg. He watched with satisfaction as the girl became distracted by the stick and failed to notice his dart.

When he saw her fall to the ground, he stepped out of the bushes and scooped her up into his arms. She was surprisingly light. He could also see that she was well-muscled. Not in the burly way where people wondered whether you were on steroids, but her arms were rock hard he noted as he carried her through the forest. Not what he had expected from this soft looking waterbender. By the time he had established this he was back to his ship. He passed his uncle on his way below deck.

"Who is this?" Iroh asked his nephew.

"You can't tell me you don't recognize her, Uncle. She's the Avatar's water bender."

"Oh, yes. I remember her now, but why is she here?"

"I'm going to use her to capture the Avatar," Zuko replied as he placed her on the cot in the holding cell of his ship.

He ignored his uncle's disappointed head-shaking and walked out to get some food for the girl for when she woke up. When he came back with some food he proceeded to watch her "sleep". It then occurred to him that she was still half-naked. Since there were no women on board, he went to his room and got one of his shirts. He figured that she could use it as a short dress-like thing if she wanted to. He walked back to the holding cell and threw the shirt at the foot of the cot. He then settled in to his chair, watching her as he waited for her to wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to all those that reviewed/alerted/favorited this story. Please read the author's note at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar:TLA nor am I making any money from this.

**Katara's POV (ish)**

Katara struggled to push back the blackness that was hovering on the edge of her consciousness. As her vision cleared, her cerulean eyes met a pair of familiar golden ones. The indifference in those eyes quickly changed to shock as she woke up completely and tried to sit up.

"Oh… you're awake, Zuko said as he backed away from her to the other side of the room. With a jolt Katara realized it was a cell – not a room.

"Obviously," Katara replied rather frostily.

"Uncle said I should come see how you were doing."

"Well, let's think a minute shall we?" She paused to make a mock-thinking gesture. "I've been kidnapped, am stuck aboard _your_ ship, and feel like my leg's on fire thanks to that dart you shot at me. How do you think I would feel? Happy?" Katara's voice had risen to a yell by the end of her explanation, and she would have been pacing furiously had her leg allowed it.

"Oh… well, um… I guess I'll leave to your thoughts." Katara watched as Zuko backed nervously out of her cell. "I'll be back later then."

"Great," Katara sighed as she laid back in her cot, feigning indifference, "More time I get to spend in your charming company."

"Fine! Be that way!" Katara just shrugged as Zuko stormed off down the hallway.

**Iroh's POV**

Iroh heard his nephew before he saw him. The reason behind this being that Zuko let out an enraged roar as soon as he was on the deck. Members of the crew scurried below to give them some privacy. They had long since learned to avoid Zuko when he was like this.

"That water tribe peasant is so infuriating! Why did I have to capture her of all people?" Zuko growled as he paced the deck.

"Let me talk to her, Nephew. Maybe I can make her feel better," Iroh replied as he started down the stairs. When he reached the cell he peered through the bars to see Katara staring at the ceiling with a determined look on her face. Iroh guessed she was either thinking of ways to escape or trying not to think about her lost friends. Most likely a combination of the two. She turned towards him at the sound of his approach. His theories were confirmed as he took a look at her eyes. Iroh could tell she was a strong girl who hardly ever gave others the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"Hello, Miss…."

"Katara."

"I am delighted to have you on board, though I must admit that I wish it could have been in better circumstances."

"Yeah, me too." Katara agreed.

"I feel terrible about you being in this cell. Would you like a room upstairs?" Iroh asked.

"No, it's alright. I don't plan on being here long anyway."

"Well, would you like to come up on the deck?" Iroh asked kindly.

"I'd like that," Katara replied, struggling to get up due to her leg injury. It was then that she noticed she was still in her underwrappings. "Umm… where are my clothes?" she asked Iroh as a blush spread across her face.

"I am afraid I do not know, but it looks like my nephew left some for you," Iroh said, pointing to a small pile of cloth at the end of the cot Katara was sitting on.

Katara tied the shirt around her and, now fully clothed, accepted Iroh's help walking up to the deck.

**Thanks to:**

**MusicPeaceAndCheese- for reviewing and all that other good stuff.**

**Animallover2000- for favoriting and story alerting this fic**

**Grin Reaper and rock n elemental- for story alerting this fic**

**To everyone else- thank you for reading! Please review!!**


	3. Chapter 3

Welcome to chapter 3 of Impossible.

Standard disclaimers apply.

Zuko paced his room trying to decide when a good time to visit Katara would be. He didn't want to go see her too often because she would wonder what was wrong with him. He could always say Uncle had made him. It would be a complete lie of course, but she didn't need to know that. He smiled, then caught himself and wondered why he was so anxious and happy to go see her.

_Well, duh! It's because you love her! _

**No I don't.**

_There, you see. You got all defensive, which means you totally love her._

**I do not! **

_Zuko looooooves Katara._

**I do not. End of discussion. **With that internal argument ended, Zuko stormed out of his room to go see Katara. He'd prove that annoying little internal voice wrong once and for all.

When he got down to the holding cell, it took him a while to grasp that his prisoner was not in her cell. It did not take him quite as long to guess at who let her out. He slammed the door to the cell and set off for the deck, confident that he would find both the people he was looking for once he got there.

When Zuko stepped out from below deck, his suspicions were proven correct. At the center of the deck were his uncle and Katara. Katara was apparently demonstrating some waterbending techniques for Uncle.

As he watched, she gathered some water from the ocean around the lower half of her body and with a spin and a flick of her wrist it spiraled up into a massive column of water with her at the top. She jumped up and froze the water so that a tower of ice was now on the deck. With smooth arm movements, she carved a ridge down the side and proceeded to surf down it.

Coming to a stop in front of Uncle, she bowed while Uncle clapped enthusiastically.

"That was excellent Miss Katara!"

"Thank you Uncle. If you'll excuse me, I had better get back to my cell before Prince Hothead sees that I'm gone." With that Katara walked confidently back below deck.

Zuko stood in his corner, slightly dumbfounded, until his Uncle noticed him and called him out on to the deck.

"Miss Katara is quite skilled, is she not?" Iroh asked, effectively snapping Zuko out of his daze.

"I've seen better," Zuko grumbled as he stalked off. Iroh smiled to himself, knowing his nephew well enough by now to be able to spot a lie.

Sorry about how short this chapter ended up, but I felt this was a good place to stop so I could collect my ideas before continuing. A big thank you and apology goes to animallover2000. I was cleaning out my mailbox today and came across your message and that was what made me want to publish at least a little bit more of the story today. Sorry it took me so long to do it.

Please review.


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